Sub-Saharan Africa’s demand for oil will increase by 2030, leaving behind the USA and Chinese markets, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report
In its recently released World Energy Outlook 2014 report, the agency warned of the longer-term signs of stress that are emerging in the energy industry.
World oil supply is expected to rise to 104mn bpd in 2040, but hinges critically on investments in the Middle East. Meanwhile, growth in world oil demand will slow down to a near halt by 2040, as demand in many of today’s largest consumers like the USA and Japan will decline by 2040, said the firm on energy consultancy.
East Africa will emerge as an important source of LNG, which is an increasingly important tool for gas security, added the report.
Fatih Biro, chief economist at IEA, said that a well-supplied oil market in the short-term should not disguise the challenge that lie ahead, as the world is set to rely more heavily on a relatively small number of producing countries.
“The apparent breathing space provided by rising output in the USA over the next decade provides little reassurance, given the long lead time of new upstream projects,” Biro added.
